116 HORSES AND EOADS. 



is more available this is used instead ; where neither 

 can be procured the stable is known far and wide as 

 a bad one. 



Xenophon, who wrote the most complete work 

 on horsemanship of his day, makes no mention of 

 horseshoes; while, on the other hand, he is par- 

 ticularly explicit as to the means to be taken to 

 harden and toughen horses' hoofs. He recommends 

 specially for this purpose bare stone pavement, 

 which, he says, ' will cool, harden, and improve a 

 horse's feet merely by his standing upon it, while 

 the same benefit will result to his hoofs as if he 

 tvere made to travel on stony roads every day^ 



Another writer, Vegetius, says : * The floor of 

 the stable should not be made of soft wood, but of 

 solid hard oak, which will make the horse's feet as 

 hard as rock.' 



The untutored natives of the interior of the 

 American countries in question, without having 

 heard of either of these authorities or their writings, 

 have found out for themselves that both of these 

 floorings act in precisely the manner described ; 

 whilst we^ acknowledging that it should be hard, 

 have nailed the standing place of a horse on to his 

 feet, and have made him carry it about with him. 

 The theory was ingenious, but it was wanting in 

 logic ; and the practice is found to be expensive and 

 unsatisfactory from the outset all through. 



Osmer, writing more than a century ago, says : 

 * In many parts of the world to this day, even on the 

 most rocky ground, horses are accustomed to carry 



